The Cubs announced their 2019 coaching staff Thursday, including the hiring of three new additions: pitching coach Tommy Hottovy, assistant hitting coach Terrmel Sledge and quality assurance coach Chris Denorfia. Rounding out manager Joe Maddon’s staff are bench coach Brandon Hyde, hitting coach Anthony Iapoce, third base coach Brian Butterfield, first base coach Will Venable, bullpen coach Lester Strode, associate pitching/catching/strategy coach Mike Borzello. The Cubs added that staff assistants Juan Cabreja and Franklin Font will also return, as will bullpen catcher Chad Noble.
It’s the first MLB coaching assignment for each of Hottovy, Denorfia and Sledge. Hottovy has been in the Cubs organization since 2015, working as a scouting coordinator and assisting in developing gameplans with the coaching staff and strategies with the team’s pitchers. He’s a somewhat outside-the-box promotion, given his lack of coaching experience and the prominent nature of his role, but he’s clearly a known commodity for president of baseball ops Theo Epstein, GM Jed Hoyer and Maddon. Hottovy spent a decade as a pitcher between the Majors and minors, including MLB appearances with the Red Sox and Royals.
Denorfia not only played for the Cubs but was at one point in his big league career a frequent platoon partner for Venable while the two played for the Padres. He’ll now be teammates with Venable once again in a much different capacity.
Sledge, who has previously served as the Cubs’ hitting coach with Class-A Eugene, is rejoining the organization. The 41-year-old spent parts of four seasons in the Majors, parts of seven seasons in the Minor Leagues and also enjoyed a productive five-year run in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball to close out his playing career. From 2017-18, he worked as a hitting coach in the Dodgers’ minor league ranks.
A “Noble” move in keeping the greatest bullpen catcher ever!!!
Hank White aka Henry Blanco left with dave Martinez last year.
Yes he did, however I do not recall him being the bullpen catcher. If he was, then he is the greatest arm of all bullpen catchers.
He wasn’t technically the bullpen coach he was more pr less the bullpen catcher. Sometimes he would catch for the pitcher between innings. Schwarber does it too.
Padres outfield reunion tour. Denorfia venable sledge. What’s old john Vander wall Jason lane and them up to.
Bubba Trammel and Mark Kotsay are waiting in the wings…
Kotsay is still a coach in the A’s organization. He was bench coach recently until a family matter took his attention from baseball.
Ah, a walk down memory lane.
You know your getting old when the players you grew up with start becoming coaches…..
The ones I grew up with are dead or almost dead.
The ones I grew up with have lots of grandchildren.
So we have new pitching coach that has never coach oh boy that is going no where should bring in rick Sutcliffe
Because Sutcliffe has done so much coaching
fans don’t want experience, fans want names
which is why good GMs never ask the fans what they want…
Those who can, do; those who can’t teach – George Bernard Shaw
Lol Sutcliffe
Pitching coach hire is definitely an “outside-the-box” promotion… but I suspect there were other things at play, especially considering how quiet the search was and how much of a destination team the Cubs currently are (Playoff-contenders; Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks on staff, etc). The Cubs should have been able to get an established pitching coach. They didn’t because of 2 factors IMO:
(1) Joe Maddon’s status. If you’re an established coach, do you really want to go somewhere that could be a 1-and-done year? [And yes I do think Joe is done, but because the Cubs don’t want to pay him $8M when they could pay David Ross $800K… see Alex Cora].
(2) Joe (and the Cubs) treatment of their coaches. Joe has probably the quickest hook in the MLB & rumors were he butted heads with Bosio about pitching decisions. Either way, jettisoned him for his “buddy” Hickey. Other guys like Davis, didn’t produce the results the Cubs wanted and were quickly scapegoated and fired.
Hey bykiric i total agree with everthing you said there David ross next managerfor cubs
The more I see the trends around MLB, the more I think that’s what the Cubs see: Boston had a very talented roster that won with a “rookie” manager… the Phillies and Yankees did well with guys who had zero coaching experience.
The Cubs won 90+ games last year basically at 75%…. if healthy they could do better, so why pay Joe? You bring in Grandpa Rossy, you save money, you appease the fanbase with a nostalgia hire, and you know that there are only 30 MLB manager positions…. if not Ross, then anyone… heck you or me could manage! No one is gonna turn down a team that is a contender.
Careful what you wish for. The White Sox had a talented roster with Robin Ventura. He only served as an assistant scout for half a season before being named manager and was a fan favorite during his playing days on the South side. Remember how that worked out?
Grandpa Rossy needs to be the bench coach or assistant bench coach. Doesnt matter his title. If hes in the dugout the morale is always good.
That includes the fans. They gave him a standing ovation for his 100th career homerun. If game 7 is in Chicago. He gets an curtain call(he got one for his 100th homer)
@bykoric Unfortunately, I think you’re right. Teams just want “yes” men that aren’t really headstrong, and will take orders from the front office.
Analytics is everything, and the teams with the most analytics guys in the front office are winning.
The only thing that gets in the way of analytics are headstrong coaches that want to do their own thing.
Not saying those kinds of coaches don’t rely on analytics, but probably just not as much as the front office wants them to.
Alex Cora didn’t win a World Series. The front office did.
No team has ever wanted a manager who fundamentally disagrees with the philosophy a team was built around
Managers have always been ‘yes men’ and always will be, analytics has nothing to do with it
It is routine for managers to want coaches they are comfortable with. It’s also common to “butt heads”.
i love the whole ‘scapegoat’ narrative for Davis… the offense imploded last year team wide but sure, let’s pretend the hitting coach had nothing to do with that…. not like it’s his job or anything to prevent stuff like that from happening…
On top of that, the players clearly attempted to employ David’s outdated hitting approach. Best get back to the forefront of hitting theory.
Maddon is not paid $8 million. He gets paid $6. His deal was $5m per year but had a clause if he wins the world series he gets a million more per year for remainder of the contract.
Cubs have plenty of dough
At least new pitching coach tommy hottovy does not have to worry about coaching yu darvish and brandon morrow because we probably wont see them pitch 2 busted pitchers there … So cole hammels and lester will be teaching new coach and i thought bradon hyde bench was hired for a manager somewhere
You spelled tyler chatwalk wrong. Darvish will be fine. They need a backup plan signing for morrow just in case. Strop did a very good job. He was overused. I’d love for Carl Edwards Jr. To get his mechanics back. He’d be solid closer for them.
Hyde had interviews but has not been hired. However I believe he recently interviewed with the Orioles
Cubs could be in tear-down mode in a hurry.
That makes absolutely zero sense…. the main bulk of your roster is still south of 30. And pretty much all your key players are entering or are within their prime years.
Bryant- FA after 2021
Baez- FA after 2021
Zobrist- FA after 2019
Rizzo- FA after 2021
Schwarber- FA after 2021
Lester= FA after 2021
Montgomery- FA after 2021
Hendricks- FA after 2020
Cubs can’t extend everyone and could choose to deal and restock the farm while keeping 1 or 2.
A tear down is realistic given the lack of farm and impending free agents the next 3 years. Won’t happen this year, but if they come up short, they could look to deal guys with 2 or less years of control
In fact, id look to deal zobrist given the presence of Happ and Bote honestly. Nationals may have interest and rather get something for Zobrist than lose him for nothing.
No, no and not.
The pending free agency of Lester and Zo has absolutely zero impact on their plans.
They’ll both, very possibly be done and headed to retirement. At the least, they will not be commanding the salary they get now or be producing on the same level
Montgomery? Meh…
Bryant, RIzzo, Schwarber, Hendricks and Baez most certianly can all be renewed.
Happ and Bote are not the answer at second, especially Bote.
Is this really how people think now? Zobrist is miles better than happ and kilometers better than Bote. When you are contending you do everything in your power to CONTEND. You don’t weaken your team and help another contender for some small prospect rather than “losing zobrist for nothing”
They are gonna lock up Rizzo, Baez and Bryant. Its gonna be at least 30 years and 550mil. 250 for Bryant and 150mil for each rizzo and Baez. Rizzo is due for a huge extension and raise. His current deal is worth less than 100mil.
Bryant at 25 mill, Rizzo at 20 mill, Schwarber at 15 mill, Hendricks at 15 mill, Baez at 20 mill. You think youre gonna pay 5 players 95 mill? so what you gonna pay the other 20 guys 60 mill then to fill out the roster? LOL. 3 mill per player yeah gonna field a competitive team alright.
Yeah Lester pending FA has no plans on what they do right. Not like they’re gonna need to replace him in the rotation. Yeah gonna just sign Chatwood or a back end guy on a minor league deal lol. Sounds about short sighted.
So those players aren’t deserving of those contracts? That’s what you’re saying. You do know the owner is of the Cubs is the founder of Ameritrade? Unless we have a complete repeat of the 1920s depression and the stock market crashes harder than Rodney McCray into the wall.
They have plenty of money to go around. 2020-21 they got a TV deal incoming that alone nets them $500mil. Just to start.
Wrong
Why would the Cubs be in a tear down mode?
Because they’re not giving away stupid amounts of money in November, obviously
I mean, any team could suddenly fall apart. But a lot of people seem to be jumping to the conclusion the Cubs are on some sort of cliff and about to fall off
I wonder how the Cubs pried Butterfield away from the Bad News Bears.
These moves don’t make any sense. They are setting maddon up for failure. David Ross has zero experience. Why not Joe Girardi?
How about we wait to see if Joe comes back. If you believe they are intentionally setting him up and he had n0 say in the hire, you are delusional.
Quality Assurance Coach? What? What is this nonsense?
Right I was trying to figure out this made up position to give someone a job. Does anyone know what he’s supposed to do? Or what the heck that title means?
Qa makes sure everything is done correctly
Air Force has a Qa in each shop
Venable had the title 2 seasons ago. Probably hold onto you until something else opens
Many teams have quality assurance person in place
Mike Shildt was quality assurance coach for cardinals for 2-3 years before he became manager. He had managing experience at all levels of minors but it was assumed in his case he was given that spot to learn and familiarize himself with roster and was final step of being groomed to be Mathenys replacement.
The game has passed you by, friend.
Joe Maddon farewell tour.